Refinery Marketing Communications is an independent branding and communications agency based in the heart of Manchester, which is made up of 96 staff. They are proud winners of five awards, including The Drum Marketing Award, where they were praised for their work with a client they have maintained a relationship with for 25 years. Their impressive work ethic is woven into the work they did for Hillarys, the blind and curtain specialists; when the brand decided to introduce floor coverings to their offering, Refinery renovated their original catchphrase, ‘Make a window, make a room’, which was no longer applicable – forcing the brand awareness and consideration to buy shoot up to its highest in two years. Other clients include Aldi, Golden Wonder, Dulux and Dunelm.

Intermarketing agency is an independent creative integrated agency, which has worked with The Co-operative, Adidas and Chester Zoo, and is The Drum’s number one elite agency in the UK for 2016. Bringing out the fact book during a party is never enjoyable, but Intermarketing Agency illustrated the fun in this technique when it created the ‘Animazing’ animal facts for Chester Zoo, attracting an entire day’s worth of visitors into the attraction. Complete with a professional illustrator and motion team, they ignited the reality of science with stimulating activity to alter the feature’s stereotype. The agency has won a whopping 25 awards and is made up of 185 staff.

Space and Time Media is an independent media planning and buying agency with offices spread all over Britain. When it approached by e-commerce retail brand In One Clothing, which was hoping to boost its sales, Space and Time media cleverly re-structured the brand’s AdWords account, implementing ad optimisation, improving targeted ad groups, and pausing underperforming keywords. Remarketing and shopping campaigns were also generated to expose the stock and increase sales, and the optimisation tasks revealed an immediate drop in overall cost and increase in conversion rate. The agency’s 80 staff have received two awards and have taken part in The Drum’s Do It Day, challenging themselves to inspire and empower 100 businesses with tools across the UK to become local leaders in all the high streets they operate in, all in a day.

MMT Digital is an independent website designer that has snapped up 10 RAR awards of varying categories since its registration. MMT Digital is an independent website designer that has snapped up 10 RAR awards of varying categories since its registration. With a team of 90 people spread across Leicester and London, they spent one brief adding speed to their expertise; with a timeframe of only six weeks, MMT were tasked with transforming Bacardi’s website, with its famous campaign ‘Untameable Since 1862’ as its new focal point – the beverage brand’s biggest rebranding strategy in 150 years. The agency shifted the focus from current devices on the market to content, by playing with high definition images, animated gifs, audio and video, achieving this task beautifully. MMT is also a supporter of The Mango Tree charity.

Something Big Ltd, an independent creative agency made up of 50 staff, has claimed five awards since its formation in 1998, including a triple win for the RAR Digital awards. Climbing into the minds of the modern audience, the agency created a campaign to promote Harvey water softener, with graphics inspired by 1950’s horror films. The characters, Scale and Scum, featured as two terrors taking over the city, and the ingeniously funny creation won the trust of consumers through a radio ad, train station posters, social media activity and bespoke commissioned paintings. The agency is based in the centre of Woking and specialises in design activities.

NMPi is an international digital advertising agency with offices spread over the globe, and the worthy owner of the Best Search category award driven by RAR. In the first three months of collaborating with clothing retailer Crew, the agency managed to increase the brand’s sales by 71% year on year, reduce cost per acquisition by 57% and increase click through rate by 157%; their techniques involved identifying a number of key words to deliver substantial increase in desired traffic and using click path analysis to examine customer journeys. NMPI is made up of 68 staff and its clients include Saks Fifth Avenue, Accessorize, Bathstore and Superdrug.

Multiply agency is an independent marketing communications agency based in Edinburgh and London. Huggies, their longest standing client, has worked with them on many projects throughout their success and reached out to the agency to build their new website. By applying colourful, icon-led animations, Multiply produced a multi-platform tool that casual and experienced swimmers can navigate. Seven varying awards have been awarded to the agency’s team of 58 for their unique creative vision and campaign achievements.

Jellyfish is an independent digital marketing agency consisting of 304 staff. Its imagination was put to the test when supermarket giant Waitrose sought its expertise to drive online customer purchase. By splitting the Pay Per Click (PPC) account across desktop, tablet and mobile targeting, and developing keywords groups relevant to all stages of the research and purchase cycle, the agency created a clearer transition process. They also worked closely with Google to ensure Waitrose’s recommended website stayed towards the top in internet search to drive performance, and their dedication increased the supermarket’s year on year sales by an enormous 447%. Jellyfish has achieved five award wins and has offices in London, Reigate and Brighton.

CHS is an independent communications and content agency based in the heart of Bournemouth. Taking the much-loved chicken restaurant Nando’s under its wing, CHS designed, implemented and launched a pilot mobile ordering app and take-away experience. With menu combinations reaching the tens of thousands, this was no easy task, but the agency gained insight around order preferences, popular menu choices, odd combinations and additional requests, revealing a quirky platform complete with a slide-able peri-o-meter. The pilot was so successful that the app has been rolled out nationwide. CHS’s innovative approach to work has been recognised, with two awards being thrown their way. The agency is made up of 59 staff.

iCrossing is a digital marketing agency which is owned by Hearst magazine, labelling them the only digital-native agency that’s part of a global content company. 1,000 staff fill out its offices in London and Brighton, and its skill reflected its size when they undertook a project to engage a younger, fashion focused target audience for the clothing brand Uniqlo. To generate excitement around the new collection, the agency launched a clothing event, inviting bloggers to be a part of the action. A photography competition was circulated around the social sphere, encouraging customers to post photos of themselves wearing the new range. A staggering 150,577 users got involved in the action and the range reached its desired audiences. iCrossing have taken home 13 awards and have an opinion blog on The Drum website.